Fix a Leadership

Leadership is a tricky discipline. You have to do it right from the beginning, and every mistake will be remembered. It takes considerable time and energy to rebuild broken trust and lost authority; you always have to be aware of how you act, and what your actions might communicate to those you lead. No wonder not everybody gets it right. My question is: how can we “fix” a leadership that has gone wrong?

It is a commonly accepted truth that a stable and long-running leadership is necessary for a stable and enduring success. Top soccer clubs like Manchester United and Arsenal have had the same managers for centuries, providing a safe training and working environment for the players. The results speak for themselves. Clubs that frequently replace their managers, have far more random results in the series.

But these are examples of good leaders. A crappy manager would of course be replaced much earlier, due to the dreadful results. Therefore, a team with a crappy leader might experience a drastic improvement in performance when the leader is replaced.

But sometimes replacement is not an option. Sometimes, it suddenly goes wrong, everyone become angry and frustrated, and for some reason people are stuck with each other for an unbearable amount of time. Sometimes, one must try to fix it.

I reason it is best to begin with the leader. Although the behaving and mood of the group is as important in the relationship between the two, a group is far more difficult to change than a singe individual. If the failed leadership has resulted in mutual contempt, it is important to work against this. These are my suggestions:

• The leader should express abundant appreciation of the work of the group, even though he does not really feel that way
• The leader should make time to have casual conversations with individuals and smaller fractions within the group. I believe this would cause both the leader and the group to become more respectful of each other.
• The leader should actively show interest in details and smaller decisions made by individuals in his group, but without trying to control them.

If you have something to add to this list, please do so.

I certainly hope that a failed leadership can be healed. I do believe that it will take time. And being an agape warrior, I pray that we eventually can turn the hatred into friendship and mutual respect.

Read more:
About.com: Leadership Tips
Art of leading.net: 9 Surefire Ways to Be a Bad Leader